Wanted After All
by Challenger2011
Summary: After a near death experience, Sideswipe begins to think that he and Sunstreaker are unwanted younglings. Companion one-shot to Little One.


**A/N: This takes place between chapters 3 and 4 of Little One and goes into why Ratchet decided to be Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's guardian. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any of the characters in it.**

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><p>Sideswipe sat on his berth looking over at his twin. Sunstreaker by all means appeared to be recharging, but Sideswipe knew better. The Autobot base had been attacked earlier, and the two of them and Bumblebee had almost been killed. It had become clear to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker that in the short time they had been staying at the Autobot base, that majority of the mechs there had no idea on how to handle younglings. The two of them had just been sent to their room as soon as the whole ordeal was over, leaving it up to them to comfort each other. Sideswipe envied Bumblebee a little. He at least had Optimus Prime to take care of him. Sideswipe had no idea where his and Sunstreaker's creators were at.<p>

"Sunny?" Sideswipe asked.

"What?" his gold twin groaned. "I'm trying to recharge Sides."

"Do you think our creators are going to come get us?"

"No."

"But why wouldn't they come?"

"They probably think we're dead and don't care enough to come make sure. Now drop it Sides. I want to recharge!"

"Fine, go recharge then. I'm going to go find something else to do," Sideswipe said getting off his berth and walking out of the room.

Sideswipe wandered down the halls of the base in boredom. He could always pull a prank, but that wasn't nearly as fun without Sunstreaker. That was the one thing he hated most about being stuck at the base: there was nothing to do. Sure there were some toys to play with, but they were sparkling toys, better for Bumblebee to play with than for him and Sunstreaker. Having stuff for everyone to play with was something he missed about the Youth Sectors. Though that was about all he missed. The bots that ran the Youth Sectors were Neutrals, unaligned in the war, and they wanted all of the sparklings and younglings to remain unaligned as well for as long as they were there. They were too young to know anything about the war and it was safer for everyone if they had no side, was what they would always say to the younglings that had already picked a side. It was easy to tell if a sparkling or youngling was unaligned or not. The Neutral ones would have white or purple optics, while the ones that were sided with the Autobots had blue ones. There had only been a few of them that were sided with the Autobots as far as Sideswipe could remember – just him, Sunstreaker, and a few others. Eventually they had decided to separate them from the other younglings, for safety reasons they had said. None of them had believed them.

"Sideswipe what are you doing out here?"

The sudden interruption from his thoughts caused Sideswipe to jump. He looked up to see Ratchet standing in front of him. The medic had just left his meeting with Optimus, Ironhide, and Jazz about Laserbeak appearing on the monitor when he noticed the silver youngling roaming around. Ratchet knew that he shouldn't be walking around the base without someone watching him after what had happened earlier.

"Nothing," Sideswipe replied quietly. "Sunny wanted to recharge and I'm bored."

"Well you can't be out here by yourself. Come on, you can stay in the med-bay for a little while," Ratchet said, leading the youngling there.

When they reached the med-bay, Ratchet sat Sideswipe down on one of the berths and sat down in front of him. Sideswipe wasn't normally this quiet and Ratchet knew that there was something on the silver twin's mind.

"Now why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"

"Sunstreaker doesn't think our creators are ever going to come for us."

"Why does he think that?" Ratchet asked.

"He says that they probably think that we're dead."

"They would know if you were dead or not," Ratchet scoffed.

"How?" Sideswiped asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Can you tell whenever Sunstreaker is hurt?"

"Yeah, but that's because we're twins. We're supposed to know that stuff."

"The two of you being twins and knowing all that is because you're the result of a spark splitting. Your spark comes from your creators and they have a bond with you just like you and Sunstreaker have a bond with each other. If you were dead they would know it."

"Then why aren't they coming for us?"

Ratchet had his own theory about that, but he wasn't going to tell Sideswipe. He had a feeling that the twin's creators had simply abandoned them. Twins were rare and could be difficult to care for. If one died, so did the other. And they couldn't be separated for long periods of time without it eventually harming them. In the middle of a war, twins could be a bit of a burden to take care of. Not that that justified Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's creators' actions if Ratchet was correct about his assumption.

"I don't know Sideswipe," Ratchet answered the youngling. "Only your creators know the answer to that."

"It's not fair," Sideswipe muttered. "How come mine and Sunny's creators are the only ones who don't care enough to come get us? The other two younglings that were here at first, their creators came to get them and Bumblebee has Optimus, but no one cares about me and Sunny."

"That's not true Sideswipe."

"Yes it is! Our creators don't care about us and we're going to be stuck here forever getting passed along to different caretakers forever! No one wants us!"

"Sideswipe I promise you that won't happen. Now it's late and I think it's time for you to go recharge like everyone else."

"Fine," the youngling grumbled hopping off the berth and headed towards the room he and Sunstreaker had been given. When he noticed that Ratchet was following him, he paused and turned around. "Why are you following me? I know where my room is."

"I'm just making sure that you actually go to your room," Ratchet answered.

Ratchet watched as Sideswipe entered his room and went over to lie down beside his gold twin instead of going to his own berth. Optimus had told him the other orn that someone was going to have to become the twins' guardian if their creators never came to claim them. Younglings couldn't just be handed off to a different caretaker every orn. They needed consistency in their lives and they need someone to make sure they were raised properly, or as properly as two younglings can be raised during a war. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker could be quite annoying at times with their pranks, but now Ratchet was wondering if maybe it was just a cry for attention. They really weren't that bad though. Perhaps in time they would mature some and stop with their silly pranks altogether. Ratchet was actually rather doubtful about that, but it was a possibility. Now the only question was who would be Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's guardian. There weren't many Autobots at the base who knew how to take care of younglings. Optimus Prime was one and Ratchet was another. Optimus had his servos full though with raising his own sparkling and with his duties as Prime. Ratchet however only had his duties as medic and as a medic he knew exactly how one was supposed to take care of twins.

He sighed and sent a message to whoever was supposed to be the twins' caretaker next – telling them that he would take care of them instead. Ratchet took one last look at the recharging forms of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker before leaving the room. He would tell them when they woke up that he had decided to be their guardian. One thing was for sure, he was going to make sure that they never thought they were unwanted ever again.


End file.
